Murmering Side- Samuel Bunker (MA) 1824 Frank A
[From: Stuart M. Frank's "Jolly Sailors Bold" (2010) pp.153-155. The Alexander was a Whaling ship out of Nantucket, Massachusetts owned by Christopher Mitchell & Co. The Captain was Samuel Bunker and the first mate was John P. Morris. Text from the Log dated July 17, 1824 to May 8, 1825. This log of the Alexander is written in fairly legible long hand, contains 188 pages. The Alexander arrived back in post in 1827 with 2844 barrels sperm whale oil. One report states: "Captain Samuel Bunker, in the Alexander, in 1824, took fourteen whales from a school of sperm in one day, and saved them all."
This traditional version written down by Captain Bunker in his ship's Log between 1824-1825 has a variation of the first stanza of C, the old English broadside Sailor Boy, then uses stanza 1 of A (Goggins 1770), the Irish version which seems to have been formed from an older unknown variant of C. The "murmuring side" corresponds to the older versions found in the US of Oikotype C. This is the oldest US extant version and the second oldest extant version to Patrick Kennedy's Wexford version dated c. 1817. Kennedy's version however probably was reworked in 1856.
R. Matteson 2017]
A. "MURMERING SIDE." As written by Samuel Bunker, master, ship Alexander of Nantucket, 1824-27. Original spelling kept, must be read phonetically.
1. Down by one mumering river side
Where purling streams do gently glide
I herd a fair maid making her moarn
How can I live and my true love gone.
2. It was erley erley all in the spring
He went on board for to serve his king
The rageing seas and the winds blue high
Which parted me and my sailor boy
3. If there be thurtey all in a roe
My love he bairs the gre[a]test show
The greatest show amongst them all
I'l have my sailor or none at all
4. She built herself a little boat
That on the ocean she might float
To view all ships as they pass by
Till I find out my young sailor boy
5. She had not sailed long on the deep
Five sail of frenchman she cha[n]ced to meat
Come tell to me all ye jovi[a]l crew
Whether my love william is on board of you
6. No no fair maiden he is not here
For he is drownded poor soul I fear
We pas[s]ed yon green Islands as we passed by
lltwas there we lost our young sailor boy
7. She wrung her hands and she tore her hair
Just like some woman in great dispair
Her boat against the rocks she run
How can I live and my sailor gone
8. O this fair maid in fashon run
With pen and paper she wrote a song
At every letter she dropped atear
At every line she cried O my dear
9. O this fair maid on a sick bed fell
And for a doctor loudly did call
My pain is great and I cannot live
And she descended unto her grave.
Finis.
_____________________________
[With corrections]
A. "MURMURING SIDE." As written by Samuel Bunker, master, ship Alexander of Nantucket, 1824-27. Original spelling changed.
1. Down by one murmuring river side,
Where purling streams do gently glide;
I herd a fair maid making her mourn,
How can I live and my true love gone.
2. It was early early all in the spring,
He went on board for to serve his king;
The raging seas and the winds blew high
Which parted me and my sailor boy.
3. If there be thirty all in a row
My love he bares the greatest show
The greatest show amongst them all
I'll have my sailor or none at all.
4. She built herself a little boat
That on the ocean she might float;
To view all ships as they pass by
Till I find out my young sailor boy.
5. She had not sailed long on the deep
Five sail of Frenchman she chanced to meet;
Come tell to me all ye jovial crew
Whether my love William is on board with[] you.
6. No no fair maiden he is not here
For he is drowned poor soul I fear
We passed yon green Islands as we passed by
It was there we lost our young sailor boy
7. She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,
Just like some woman in great despair;
Her boat against the rocks she run,
How can I live and my sailor gone.
8. O this fair maid in fashion run,
With pen and paper she wrote a song;
At every letter she dropped a tear,
At every line she cried, "O my dear."
9. O this fair maid on a sick bed fell
And for a doctor loudly did call
My pain is great and I cannot live
And she descended unto her grave.
Finis.
1. originally "of"